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Effect of nitrogen crossover on purging strategy in PEM fuel cell systems

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  • Rabbani, Abid
  • Rokni, Masoud

Abstract

A comprehensive study on nitrogen crossover in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system with anode recirculation is conducted and associated purging strategies are discussed. Such systems when employed in automobiles are subjected to continuous changes in load and external operating conditions, making it important to investigate the dynamic performance of the system during transitory conditions. The model developed here is able to predict nitrogen crossover in excellent agreement with the design validation data of the stack. The results show that with pure recirculation, voltage and system efficiency decline due to nitrogen accumulation in fuel cell. Different purging techniques are simulated to address hydrogen dilution issue at reaction sites. Anode bleed out of 3% is found to be limit for prevention of N2 buildup and retains the concentration levels to less than 1%. An alternate strategy for automatic initiation of anode recirculation purge was simulated by employing nitrogen detectors. It is observed that purge interval is a direct function of current density and H2 residual flow rates. Moreover, during transient load changes, automatic purge catered well to prevent nitrogen levels from rising when compared to a fixed purge interval strategy. This model can be used as a base for control and development of anode purge strategies for automotive fuel cell systems.

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  • Rabbani, Abid & Rokni, Masoud, 2013. "Effect of nitrogen crossover on purging strategy in PEM fuel cell systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 1061-1070.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:111:y:2013:i:c:p:1061-1070
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.06.057
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Dashti, Isar & Asghari, Saeed & Goudarzi, Mohammad & Meyer, Quentin & Mehrabani-Zeinabad, Arjomand & Brett, Dan J.L., 2019. "Optimization of the performance, operation conditions and purge rate for a dead-ended anode proton exchange membrane fuel cell using an analytical model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 173-185.
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    6. Steinberger, Michael & Geiling, Johannes & Oechsner, Richard & Frey, Lothar, 2018. "Anode recirculation and purge strategies for PEM fuel cell operation with diluted hydrogen feed gas," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 572-582.
    7. Liu, Shihua & Li, Xiaoyang & Pang, Linjia & Geng, Tie & Guo, Yonggang & Jiang, Lin & Kang, Kejia & Wang, Xinchao & Liu, Zongyao, 2022. "Study on the effect of purging time on the performance of PEMFC with dead-ended anode under gravity," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 1141-1151.
    8. Abid Rabbani & Masoud Rokni, 2014. "Modeling and Analysis of Transport Processes and Efficiency of Combined SOFC and PEMFC Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-21, August.
    9. Barzegari, Mohammad M. & Dardel, Morteza & Alizadeh, Ebrahim & Ramiar, Abas, 2016. "Dynamic modeling and validation studies of dead-end cascade H2/O2 PEM fuel cell stack with integrated humidifier and separator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 298-308.
    10. Wang, Bowen & Wu, Kangcheng & Xi, Fuqiang & Xuan, Jin & Xie, Xu & Wang, Xiaoyang & Jiao, Kui, 2019. "Numerical analysis of operating conditions effects on PEMFC with anode recirculation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 844-856.
    11. Qiu, Diankai & Zhou, Xiangyang & Chen, Minxue & Xu, Zhutian & Peng, Linfa, 2023. "Optimization of control strategy for air-cooled PEMFC based on in-situ observation of internal reaction state," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    12. Chen, Yong-Song & Yang, Chih-Wei & Lee, Jiunn-Yih, 2014. "Implementation and evaluation for anode purging of a fuel cell based on nitrogen concentration," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1519-1524.
    13. Pan, Mingzhang & Pan, Chengjie & Li, Chao & Zhao, Jian, 2021. "A review of membranes in proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Transport phenomena, performance and durability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    14. Bizon, Nicu, 2019. "Fuel saving strategy using real-time switching of the fueling regulators in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    15. Chen, Jun-Hong & He, Pu & Cai, Sai-Jie & He, Ze-Hong & Zhu, Hao-Ning & Yu, Zi-Yan & Yang, Lu-Zheng & Tao, Wen-Quan, 2024. "Modeling and temperature control of a water-cooled PEMFC system using intelligent algorithms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 372(C).
    16. Liu, Zhiyang & Chen, Jian & Liu, Hao & Yan, Chizhou & Hou, Yang & He, Qinggang & Zhang, Jiujun & Hissel, Daniel, 2020. "Anode purge management for hydrogen utilization and stack durability improvement of PEM fuel cell systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    17. Yang, Zirong & Du, Qing & Jia, Zhiwei & Yang, Chunguang & Xuan, Jin & Jiao, Kui, 2019. "A comprehensive proton exchange membrane fuel cell system model integrating various auxiliary subsystems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    18. Hou, Junbo & Yang, Min & Zhang, Junliang, 2020. "Active and passive fuel recirculation for solid oxide and proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 1355-1371.
    19. Liu, Shihua & Chen, Tao & Zhang, Cheng & Xie, Yi, 2020. "Study on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with dead-ended anode in gravity environment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    20. Pahon, E. & Yousfi Steiner, N. & Jemei, S. & Hissel, D. & Moçoteguy, P., 2016. "A signal-based method for fast PEMFC diagnosis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 748-758.
    21. Xu, Sheng & Yin, Bifeng & Li, Zekai & Dong, Fei, 2023. "A review on gas purge of proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Mechanisms, experimental approaches, numerical approaches, and optimization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    22. Nicu Bizon & Phatiphat Thounthong, 2021. "A Simple and Safe Strategy for Improving the Fuel Economy of a Fuel Cell Vehicle," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-29, March.
    23. Pei, Pucheng & Chen, Huicui, 2014. "Main factors affecting the lifetime of Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells in vehicle applications: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 60-75.
    24. Jenssen, Dirk & Berger, Oliver & Krewer, Ulrike, 2017. "Improved PEM fuel cell system operation with cascaded stack and ejector-based recirculation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 324-333.

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